Citizen India: The Many Are One

Author(s): Pavan K. Varma

Source: World Policy Journal , Spring, 2009, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Spring, 2009), pp. 45-52
Published by: Duke University Press

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Pavan K. Warma is director-general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi, and ambassador-designate
to Bhutan. A veteran diplomat and writer, his recent books include Being Indian and The Great Indian Middle Class.

Citizen India
The Many Are One
Pavan K. Varma

Winston Churchill once said that India is 2,000 years ago. Finally, its powers of assim-
merely a "geographical expression - no more ilation have led it to absorb, over a millen-
a single country than the equator." His colo- nia or more, what a train of conquerors left
nial assumption was that the Indian nation behind.
was a creation of the British, and that prior The concept of formal citizenship of a
to it there was only a collection of compet- defined nation-state in the modern sense
ing diversities - linguistic, ethnic, religious, came with India's independence in 1947. In
regional, and political. Today, Churchill can the decades leading up to it, the freedom
perhaps be forgiven for articulating the movement under the leadership of Mahatma
hubris of a conquering power, but the fact isGandhi was a hugely unifying factor, bring-
that the notion of India far preceded the ing into its patriotic fold ordinary people
coming of the British in the seventeenth from all corners of the land. The constitu-
century. tion of India was formally adopted on Janu-
The notion of Indian-ness is based on a ary 26, 1950, and conferred full Indian citi-
civilizational unity dating back to the dawnzenship upon all those were officially part of
of time. When people within a defined geo-the new Republic of India.
graphical area evolve in the same crucible of In the early years after 1947, many
history for 5,000 years, there develops a de- knowledgeable foreign observers had serious
finitive identity that is unique to them. doubts about the survival of the newly inde-
Along with antiquity, Indian civilization haspendent Indian state. Their apprehensions
been and remains noteworthy for its conti- were not entirely without merit. Independ-
nuity, its pinnacles of aesthetic refinement, ence arrived under a cloud of partition and
its unique social structures and customs, the horrific religious violence between Hindus
loftiness of its metaphysical inquires, and of and Muslims. In a nation the size of a sub-
course its pluralism. Four of the great reli- continent there were strong regional loyal-
gions of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism, ties that challenged the sway of a supra fed-
Jainism, and Sikhism were born here; the eral state. Indeed, many of the feudal king-
largest number of Muslims outside of In- doms of the past resented the co-option into
donesia makes the sub-continent their a democratic republic and the consequent
home; and Christian missionaries and Jew- curtailment of their absolute powers. And
ish refugees were welcomed to its shores linguistic divides fanned by partisan politi-

© 2009 World Policy Institute 45

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cal interests threatened to unleash a confla-
percent; by 1995, it had risen to 22.8 per-
gration that could have jeopardized the nas-cent. An even more dramatic change can be
cent republic. seen in the composition of the national Par-
liament and state legislatures. In the Lok
Surviving Early Challenges Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, 106
The primary reason India survived these ear-out of 544 seats are reserved for the lowest
ly challenges was that the response of the caste, but representation is even higher be-
central government was not mindlessly brit-cause many members of these groups now
tle. One of the distinguishing features of win elections from unreserved constituen-
the Indian state - a trait that often escapes cies. Of course, the hold of the caste system,
analysts - is its accommodating and flexibleand the social discrimination that is its
response to forces which in the early years corollary, has not been fully eradicated - but
challenged its primacy. When the southern it would be accurate to say that its asphyxi-
state of Tamil Nadu spearheaded an agita- ating grasp has greatly loosened, and this is
tion in the 1950s against the "imposition" particularly in evidence in the urban areas
of Hindi as the national language, New where inter-caste marriages between young
Delhi decided simply to postpone the deci- people is increasingly common.
sion, and allowed English to continue as an But the one factor that provided an in-
official "link" language for the next ten dispensable safety valve to the pressures
years, a decision extended several times building up against the central state was the
since then. Yet, around the same time, peo- gradual strengthening and increased accept-
ple in several provinces wanted a reorganiza- ance of democracy. Parliamentary democracy
tion of states along linguistic loyalties, so based on universal suffrage was an improba-
the central government yielded and did ble transplant in the incorrigibly hierarchic
precisely that. soil of India. Its success is the real miracle of
The credo of secularism, under which all modern India. A people stifling in the pres-
faiths were to be respected and their adher- sure cooker of a hierarchically sealed society
ents guaranteed equality under the law, was initially embraced the machinery of demo-
a fundamental pillar of the freedom move- cratic politics for the promise it held of up-
ment led by Gandhi and Nehru, and is now ward mobility - within the inherited frame-
enshrined firmly in the Constitution. Affir- work of an undemocratic society. This gave
mative action in favor of the Dalits - those time for the democratic idea to take root
at the lowest end of the caste system who and demonstrate its advantages, especially
had been discriminated against for centuries to the weakest sections of the populace.
and who Gandhi dubbed Harijans, the chil- Indians provided this critical gestation
dren of God - and in support of tribal period, not because they were democratic by
groups, was institutionalized in both the temperament (as they would like the world
political and administrative systems. The to believe), but because their centuries-old
nation's constitution provides that almost aundemocratic instincts were strong enough
quarter of all government jobs must be re- not to view the new implant as a fatal intru-
served for the Scheduled Castes and Sched- sion. In societies where indigenous tradi-
uled Tribes - also known as the "untouch- tions are not so powerful, democracy could
ables" - who comprise today some 24 per- have been summarily rejected as an unac-
cent of the Indian population. In 1965, the ceptably invasive threat. In India, with its
percentage they represented in the higher complex and ancient culture, and en-
echelons of government services was 4.5 trenched ways of thinking and behaving,

46 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL • SPRING 2009

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 QAP/

Lining up at the ballot box.

democracy did not provoke the production change the texture of the soil in which it
of so many antibodies. For instance, those was implanted.
who belonged to the feudal and upper When the great democratic experiment
castes, which effectively had social and even began in 1951, the vast masses of the people
religious sanction, did not for a moment be- were reconciled to remain quiescent vote
lieve that democracy would one day ques- banks, manipulated by the upper castes and
tion this preordained hierarchy. The new the entrenched elites. But, after more than
transplant, therefore, grew stronger, almost 50 years and dozens of elections, the weak-
by default. This followed no conventional est have realized that power can also flow in
patterns. In some respects, it shriveled even their direction from the ballot box, and this
as it grew stronger. When Prime Minister has emboldened them to work for their own
Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency interests. Today, the Indian voter seeks ac-
regime in 1974 curbing democratic rights, countability and demonstrates increasingly
there was a genuine fear that democracy an ability to see through political rhetoric.
would be overwhelmed. But when she called He or she is judging politicians not by their
for elections in 1980, the people threw herpromises but by their performance in deliv-
government out so decisively that she lost ering them. Has the school been built?
her own seat in Parliament. Each year of What about the road that was promised?
survival increased the chances of a more Has drinking water been supplied? What
equal interaction, and a more resilient and has been done to improve the supply of elec-
less artificial synthesis, between the opposed tricity? And what has been done about cre-
traditions. By not dying prematurely, ating more jobs? It is for this reason that
democracy began, ever so gradually, to democracy and elections have become a

Citizen India 47

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grand obsession for Indians. In the last gen- my have contributed, too. Countrywide op-
eral elections in April-May 2004, 5,398 portunities, among them government insti-
candidates from 220 political parties con- tutions and university curricula, have been
tested 543 parliamentary seats. Some 380 an important factor. The presence of the In-
million people, representing 56 percent of dian state, pervasive in its rituals of power
the 675 million registered voters, exercised and patronage, cannot be ignored. Nor can
their preference - using 1.25 million elec- the uniformity imparted by a certain culture
tronic voting machines in 700,000 polling of democratic politics, in which the smiling
booths throughout the country, the highest face of the rustic Laloo Yadav merges quite
in Ladakh at an altitude of 5,180 meters, 20 easily with the patrician portrait of Nehru.
miles from the nearest road. The consequence is a far more homogenized
Citizenship is not only about a legal Indian than most Indians are aware of or
document. Unless people have a sense of willing to accept.
identification with the nation of which they Outside the framework of politics and
are citizens, citizenship acquires a mechani- economics, there have been other contribut-
cal or utilitarian character. The workings of ing factors. In 1947, the state broadcaster
the modern Indian nation-state have given All India Radio (AIR) had only six stations
to them a sense of belonging that today and 18 transmitters, covering less than 3
transcends more narrow loyalties of region, percent of the territory and merely 1 1 per-
language, and kinship: they are true citi- cent of the people. In the next five decades,
zens, stakeholders in the system. Upon the AIR expanded to broadcast in 24 languages
foundations of a unity of civilizations and and 146 dialects from over 200 broadcasting
citizenship, has arisen a new edifice - a truly centers, covering 90 percent of the country
pan-Indian identity on the basis of post- and reaching all its 1.1 billion people. A
1947 coordinates. similar revolution occurred with television.
Such a development took place almost Until the mid-1970s, Doordarshan, the
incidentally and as a consequence of the lack state broadcaster, had only one channel. To-
of organized pressure. It was not the product day it operates over two dozen channels, in-
of a state fiat, or a blueprint devised by gov- cluding 12 in the regional languages. In ad-
ernment, and therefore could not be stifled dition, there are close to 100 cable televi-
by planning. The integrating factors worked sion channels, with millions of home con-
independently of partisan biases, for there nections. An estimated 90 million television
were no partisans behind them. The creep- sets are installed in rural India alone.
ing homogenization did not arouse suspi- Films have been another hugely inte-
cion or subversion because no one person or grating factor. The Indian film industry is
agency could be accused of contributing to the biggest in the world, making almost
this process. three films a day. Every day, about 1 5 mil-
lion people throng more than 13,000 movie
Countrywide Opportunities halls in the country. Millions more watch
A variety of factors contributed to this mod- films on vcrs and DVDs at home. No Indian
ern, shared identity. The revolution in com- film is complete without songs, and the
munications helped, as did the huge in- songs - even more than the film itself - are
crease in mobility - all pointing toward an instant binding factor. A popular film
common aspirations. The gradual but defin- song is hummed across the country, even by
itive democratization of the social order and those who do not understand the words. It
the unprecedented expansion of the econo- is broadcast on radio, played at weddings,

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sung in schools, heard on cassettes, per- people are also talking to each other directly
formed on television, and used at political across the country, a phenomenon which un-
rallies. Simultaneously, an assertive popular til recently would be unthinkable. Only a
culture, not entirely uninfluenced by elite century ago, the first automatic telephone
aspirations but no longer controlled by exchange at Simla had only 700 lines. Until
them, is cutting across class barriers. Riding well into the second half of the twentieth
on a media and communications revolution, century access to a telephone was, for most
it has spread faster than any cultural devel- people, a luxury. Today, there are close to
opment before. It permeates all aspects of 100 million telephones, and about one mil-
everyday life: dress, food,
art, language, employment,
and entertainment. What it * The foundations of an ancient
lacks in pedigree it makes
up in confidence. Its great-
civilizational unity have given
est strength is that - risen to a new edifice - a truly
excluding perhaps the ab-
solutely marginalized - it pan-Indian identity on the basis
includes more people across
India in a common lan- of post- 1 947 coordinates. * *
guage of communication in
more areas of everyday life than ever before.lion villages have access to a telephone facil-
Slowly but visibly, the salad bowl of In-ity that allows them to dial any part of the
dia is turning into a melting pot. Most of country. The most dramatic development
urban India brushes its teeth with Colgate has been mobile telephones. About 100 mil-
or Pepsodent, bathes with Lux, washes its lion Indians now own cell phones, and their
clothes with Rin or Surf, eats Britannia bis-numbers are increasing at a pace that is
cuits, wears Bata shoes, drinks Coca-Cola, reckoned to be among the fastest in the
world.
Pepsi, or Thums Up, cleans a cut with Det-
tol, treats a cold with Vicks, drinks Horlicks As a result, Indians have lost the fear of
for vitality, and wears clothes of the same being dispersed across their land, and this
nondescript polyester. More than 200 mil- dispersal is unfolding in a manner never
lion newspaper subscribers ingest and ana- witnessed before. The "Madrasis" - as those
lyze the same news everyday, and the differ- from the south were labeled decades ago -
ence between the smallest town and the are as much a fixture of New Delhi as are
biggest village is blurring fast, with one- the Punjabis who think it is their home.
third of the country officially considered ur- Only 30 percent of the people in Mumbai
ban. are descendents of the city's original resi-
Of course, this has added to social pres- dents. Seven million, or more than half, are
sures, and put strains on the social welfare from North India; and the votes of "out-
system. It has also brought into question siders" determine the results of 18 of its 32
some of the certitudes of the past. Still, it seats in the state assembly. Elsewhere, in
would be fair to say that Indians are coping Punjab, the robust Sikh farmers cannot do
with the pace of change with resilience. Part without migrant labor from Bihar. Indeed,
of the reason is that, by and large, a vast some 10,000 prosperous Sikhs live, far from
body of Indian citizens wants to see this their roots, in the southern coastal town of
change and benefit from it. Increasingly, Visakhapatnam. And a sizable segment -

Citizen India 49

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perhaps as much as one-third - of the quarter of the population - in West Bengal
population of Chennai, the capital of Tamil and Kerala, and even more (about 30 per-
Nadu, speaks Telugu (the language of cent) in Assam. In Uttar Pradesh, they
neighboring Andhra Pradesh), not Tamil. number over 30 million and in Bihar about
Youngsters whose parents had rarely trav- half of that, which is still more than the en-
eled beyond the provincial town near their tire population of Hungary or Greece. They
village home, now don't think twice about have a significant presence too in the states
working and studying in places that an old- of Karnataka (11 percent), and Tamil Nadu
er generation has only heard about. A new (5 percent). Nowhere are they cut off or iso-
cosmopolitanism has become a feature of the lated from the majority community. They
Indian landscape, dissolving differences and are part of the national fabric in inseparable
changing the way Indians define themselves. ways, speaking the same language, watching
the same films, eating the same food, and
Hindu Paranoia? sharing the same cultural traits as their
Hindu neighbors.
Of course, there are occasions of religious vi-
olence, but it would be a travesty of the As a result, no political party with the
truth to believe that India is perched on a ambition to come to power can ignore the
communal, or migratory, time bomb that isMuslim community. In the 400 constituen-
about to go off. The first reason for this is cies of the Uttar Pradesh state assembly, the
that Hindus, who constitute some 85 per-results for 100 of these seats are determined
cent of the population, are not, and have by how Muslims vote. Nationwide, Muslims
never been, insecure about their religion. have significant density in as many as 125
The paranoia that Hinduism is under siege, parliamentary constituencies, which consti-
and needs to assert itself aggressively, has tute almost a quarter of the lower house of
been whipped up only recently by fringe Parliament. No politician can, therefore, be
fundamentalist groups whose credentials to insensitive to such an important electoral
speak for all Hindus are very doubtful. His-factor, especially since the Hindu vote has
torically, Hinduism has shown a supreme never been consolidated in an anti-Muslim
complacency towards any threat to its exis-bloc.
tence. It has never felt the need to codify its It is also useful to bear in mind that
practice in a single scripture, nor thought itwhile incidents of communal strife attract
attention, and rightly so, countless incidents
necessary to regiment its faithful at the altar
of only one god, nor created a single church of religious harmony play out unnoticed in
for its defense and propagation. Moreover, the ebb and flow of everyday life. In fact, in
Hindus are temperamentally opposed to any a paper published in 1996, two distin-
prolonged instability or disorder that couldguished scholars from Harvard, Ashutosh
be a consequence of religious violence, espe- Varshney and Steven Wilkinson, concluded
cially since it is amply clear that there is no
after an in-depth study of religious violence
practical alternative to coexistence. from I960 to 1993, that in 30 of the 33
For their part, Muslims in India are notyears there were none or very few incidents
confined to one geographical area. They of such violence, and that in the remaining
number over 120 million - about 13 per- years most of the violence occurred in only
cent of the population - and live in all partstwo cities. During the 33 years, there were
of the country. Jammu and Kashmir is the only 554 incidents across India, which
only state where they are in a majority, but translates to barely 17 incidents a year in a
they are a significant proportion - almost acountry of over a billion people. Given the

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close proximity in which Hindus and Mus- slavery more than a 100 years ago as inden-
lims live, the historical memory of the terri- tured labor to the sugar plantations in Mau-
ble religious violence of the partition peri- ritius, Fiji, and the Caribbean carried with
od, the role of criminals and vested interests them the memory and practice of an ancient
in fomenting disharmony, and the incendi- civilization and culture, but not the loyal-
ary contribution of scarcity and poverty in ties of the modern nation-state. The many
accentuating any cause of strife, this is not that migrated to the United Kingdom in
a catastrophic record by any standards - the 1950s and the 1960s on their own voli-
especially when most of the country has re- tion had the same cultural fealties, but the
mained continuously peaceful in spite of affiliations with the new Indian republic
such factors.
There is a self-cor-
recting mechanism to
* * There is an identifiable trend of
religious fundamental-
ism in the working of reverse migration, of Indians
Indian democracy, and
in the priorities Indians doing well enough abroad want-
value, especially now
when economic opportu-
ing to come back to their country
nities are on the in-
and their primeval roots. '*
crease. The great majori-
ty of Hindus and Mus-
lims and those of other faiths now feel that were still too immature, and a secure job
it is in their self-interest to swim away from abroad could have seemed more important
the islands of religious exclusiveness, inhab- than the color of one's passport.
ited by mullahs and mahants, towards the Today, circumstances have changed
mainland of greater secular opportunities. dramatically. Migration may have become
This perception is of seminal importance easier - or given the invisible barriers for
and is creating far-reaching changes in be- non-white applicants more difficult - but
havior and response. the critical new element is the growth of vi-
able new economic opportunities in India it-
Notional Citizenship self. In fact, there is an identifiable trend of
The notion of citizenship has, therefore, ac- reverse migration, of Indians doing well
quired a new content over the last 60 years. enough abroad wanting to come back to
Contemporary developments within the their country and their primeval roots, espe-
young nation-state have given, to a purely cially now that it has emerged as one of the
legal construct, an emotional anchorage fastest growing economies in the world.
which has served to reinforce the common The Indian diaspora measures over 20
civilizational bonds of the past. Color, lan- million. On the whole, it is relatively afflu-
guage, faith, custom, usage, tradition, be- ent, successful, and has often adapted well
havior, ritual - the consequences of a shared to the country of its adoption - yet it has
and overlapping heritage - have intertwined rarely been able to get India out of its sys-
with the homogenizing influences of the tem. I have met Indians who have long giv-
present, to create a definitive and positive en up their Indian passports and acquired a
identification with political identity. The new citizenship, but who still say that they
migrants who were shipped away in near can never be anything but Indian. I have

Citizen India 5 1

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met entire communities who were not even theocrats, nor are they irreligious. They are
born in India - their grandparents having somehow too different to be flexible in who
migrated decades ago - who still practice they are or can become.
the religion, customs, and rituals of the Visitors will always be welcome in
"mother" country and regard India as theirIndia - an ancient Indian saying Athithi
spiritual and emotional home. I have met,Devo Bhava equates a guest with godhood -
more recently, Indians who have gone but the newly emerging Indian state will al-
to study or work overseas - and could con- ways be resistant to dilution through migra-
ceivably consider the option of settling tion because it is based on a unity based on
abroad - but who say that they would like citizenship that goes back to the dawn of
to come back after short-term goals such astime. The Republic of India will, therefore,
making some money or getting the desired be influenced by an aggressively globalizing
work experience are fulfilled. world, and will acquire the tools to interface
Unlike America, therefore, which is a with it, but it is very unlikely that it will
much younger civilization, and consists of abe overwhelmed by it.
great many migrants who have found in it a This is especially true today, when India
largely cosmopolitan home, India is muchis seen to be emerging as a self-confident
too ancient and set in its civilizational roots major power on the international stage. It
to allow the nation to absorb or welcome is the world's largest democracy, boasting
large-scale migration into its territory. one of the fastest growing and biggest
Those who leave its shores find it difficult economies. Its burgeoning middle class
not to remain Indian in an enduring way. (now numbering 300 million or more) con-
At the same time, those who arrive from stitutes one of the richest markets in the
abroad - with the exception of illegal mi- world. It is a de facto nuclear power. It is
grants from neighboring countries like the heir to one of the most ancient and re-
Bangladesh where the cultural overlap is fined cultures in the world - committed to
pronounced - find it equally difficult to pluralism - and has adopted the liberal doc-
become Indian, even if they qualify for trine as a way of life. It has one of the
citizenship. largest and freest medias. Not a single seces-
The world may have shrunk to be a sionist or rebel movement has succeeded
global village but the Indian nation - and against it since 1947, although many have
Indians - will remain a single body politic. sought to do so. Indeed, the Naxalites still
Its citizens cannot be color-coded into believe they can; but like their earlier
white, black, or yellow. They do not belong avatars I have no doubt that they will ulti-
to the Christian world. They cannot be in- mately be co-opted into the nation.
cluded in the Islamic world. Hindus, who Above all, India's citizens, united by the
constitute the overwhelming majority in In- weight of demographics - more than 1 bil-
dia, live (in such large numbers) only in In- lion individuals, every sixth human being
dia and Nepal. They cannot be easily fittedon the planet - are redefining democracy. So
into a mold. They are not post-communist, at the threshold of the twenty-first century,
nor are they pre-democratic. They are not India is finally within reach of its destiny. •

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